Celebrity Chef Ramsay Wins Libel DamagesLONDON Jun 20, 2006 (AP)— Gordon Ramsay has won a libel action against a newspaper that accused the celebrity chef of faking scenes on his reality TV show. The Evening Standard claimed in November that parts of "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" in which Ramsay helps save failing restaurants had been exaggerated to make an average restaurant look like a health hazard. It also claimed the program had put an incompetent chef into place at Bonaparte's, a struggling bistro in northern England that was featured in one episode. Ramsay's lawyer, Keith Schilling, told a judge at London's High Court the claims were false. "No scenes had been faked, the kitchen was indeed untidy and a health hazard, the restaurant was already in financial difficulty before the program was filmed and the chef was not installed by the claimants," Schilling said. The newspaper's lawyer, Adam Cannon, said the Evening Standard now accepted that the claims were untrue. More...

Killers on standby for Yoko Ono15th December 2006 20:00:02 - Yoko Ono's chauffeur said he had people "on standby" to kill her. Koral Karsan threatened to kill John Lennon's widow and release embarrassing photographs and recordings of her unless she paid him $2 million. Assistant District Attorney Maureen O'Connor, speaking at Karsan's arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, said: "Karsan claimed he had people on standby waiting to kill the victim on his orders." Yoko's lawyer Jonas Herbsman said Karsan told him he would "ruin the life of Yoko, her children and her associates" if she didn't give him the money. Jude Tanya Kennedy set Karsan's bail at a hefty $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash, after O'Connor branded him an "extraordinary flight risk". Karsan has protested his innocence, claiming Yoko made the allegations to stop him "pursuing a sexual harassment case against her." More...